Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-01
THE STAGE BACK FALL y
A BUSINESS WHICH FEW ACTORS
CARE TO UNDERTAKE.

CARE TO UNDERTAKE.
The Terror Of the Professional Genius
Whom no Fear of Broken Bones Could
TrammeI-Exciting Incident-An Awful
Fall.
"The business of the stage known to actors
as the back Iall,'" said well known member
of the theatrical profession, has more terror
to the actor and is attempted with more
Apprehension than any other mechanical
necessity of the art. There are few persons
on the stage, no matter how long and arViu-
Gus their experience has been, who can do it,
or who will attempt it. heard VIII Stuart
say once that famous star actress had told
him that she would give her months receipts,
and they were then among the thousands, If
she was able to do the back fall successfully,
as its effect on an audience is tremendous.
But the apparent certainty that to attempt it
would result in a broken neck or back always
deferred her, as it has every other actress,
from making any effort TO master the accom-
plishment-and not only every actress, but
actor as well.
Il never saw but one man on the stage who
could do the back fall to perfection, and who
wasn't afraid to do it, and that was Joe
Nagle. guess every old actor remembers
Back Fall joe His stamping ground was
the untamed west, but he has played in this
city, in the heaviest of heavy parts, at the
old Bowery theatre and later at Woods
museum l can't say whether Joe is alive
yet or not, but l never heard of his death, and
dare say that he Is delighting his particularly
SppreCiative audiences somewhere in the west,
where he was always an immense favorite in
the lur:d drama He was way above the
average melodramatic performers, and with
the effective back fall to help him he always
brought down the house.
STIFF AS A FALLING TREE.
%Joe NaSle was a man over six feet high,
and his gigantic frame was splendidly filled
out He was as straight as an Indian, and TO
see that great form of his toppling over and
falling backward, as stiff as a falling tree,
and with no more apparent power Of resist
ance to or consciousness of the fall than a tree
would have, was sor-ething so startlinGly
realistic that it never failed to drive even the
coldest audience frantic. He would come
down with a thud that showed plainly there
was no nonsense about the fall, but at the
same time he caught all his weight on his
binary every day fall on the stage.
"Whenever Nagle was TO play in a strange
company he always rehearsed this back fall
to the members, so that they might become
used to it, rs he knew if he sprang it on 'em
without warning it would break them up for
the whole performance. But even after the
perilous acrohatic feat had been done before
the company time and time again, actors on
lie stage with Nagle during the performance
were still so frequently nervous and ratified
when he came 10 do his fall that they would
involuntarily start forward with outstretched
hands as if to catch him, SO real and 'un.
stacy was the act, even to men and women
used to all the gymnastic and acrohatic bust
ness of their art Poor Frank Muriock, who
although good actor, found his best road TO
fame as the author of 'Davy Crockett the
piece that made Frank Mayo rich and cele-
brated, came near giving Nagle his last back
fall once, through this nervousness and in
voluntary interference in the performance OF
the act. Nagle had noticed Franks great
nervousness on several occasions. and had
warned him to control himself. For said
Joe, if my mind is taken off of this fall for
a second wouldn't give much for my neck
UNDER EXCITING CIRCUMSTANCES.
"One night Joe stiffened himself for the fall
under particularly exciting circumstances.
Murdoch stood near him, and as he after
ward said, when he saw that big form of
Nagles begin to tumble over backward, like
the tOppling of some great column, the sight
was so real that he could not control himself,
and he stepped quickly forward and stretched
his arm out under the falling actor before be
regained his composure. The arm touched
Maggie, and, instead OF coming down on the
stage rigid and straight, he fell all in a heap,
and was so badly hurt that he had to be car
ried Off the stage. He was Frustrated for a
long time and suffered intensely. But he got
well, and saw him do the back fall with all
his realism several times after that.
They tell a story about Joe and his back
fall during a star engagement at the Cleve-
land theatre while Clara Morris was playing
minor parts in the company there. | don't
remember the play, but whatever it was Miss
Morris was cast as the daughter Of the hero,
which was Nagle's part. There came a crisis
in his part where it was incumbent on him 10
introduce his great back fall, and although
bis hands were an important adjunct in the
feat, he was seized by some strange whim,
and as Miss Morris as his daughter, was
about TO take leave Of him, according to the
stage directions be caught her hands and
took her down with him in his awful fall.
Miss Morris afterward said that it seemed to
her as if she were falling from some great
height, as she went down in one grand sweep
with the gigantic form of the actor. Nagle
had not the support OF his hands in this fail,
but he spread his length out on the stage
without the relaxation os q muscle, and as
the astOnished and frightened daughter olsen
tangled herself, safe and unhurt, from the
awful wreck OF her father. the aud .ence went
wild with enthusiasm, and Back Fall NaEle
never before received such a recognition of
his overtopping genius New York Sun.